New Study Examines Sexual Practices of Gay & Bi Identified Men

A recent study published in the November issue of The Journal of Sexual Medicine, entitled, Sexual Behaviors and Situational Characteristics of Most Recent Male-Partnered Sexual Event among Gay and Bisexually Identified Men in the United States, aims "to document the sexual behaviors that gay and bisexually identified men report during their most recent male-partnered sexual event and to describe the situational characteristics and participants' evaluation of these events."

The study was spearheaded by Dr. Joshua Rosenberger, from the Indiana University's Kinsey Institute, and carried out in collaboration with Manhunt Cares, the research arm of Manhunt™, the well-known social networking site for men who have sex with men.

Researchers analyzed responses from nearly 25,000 users of Manhunt™ and DList™ who responded to a survey that included questions about their sexual practices and asked them to reflect on different types of safer sex educational videos, including more explicit approaches developed by the DC FUK!T Campaign (NSWF). The explicit DC FUK!T videos were compared to more bland, "condom on banana"-type control videos to answer the question of whether sexually explicit messaging is more effective in helping men to learn and retain information about condom use, STDs and other safer sex practices.

Although the answer to this question seems painfully obvious, it still needs to be asked and answered if we're ever to break free of the puritanical and throughly unscientific approach our country continues to use to educate people about safer sex practices. To this day, the notorious Helms' Amendment, a legacy of the vociferously homophobic Senator Jesse Helms, prevents federal funds from supporting these evidence-based methods for educating people about safer sex. Hopefully, this research marks progress toward one day putting an end to the Helms' Amendment.

But in the meantime, study results have been made available to the public in the form of an engaging, interactive website where visitors can learn more about the study results in a user-friendly and contemporary manner. "As the only online company that has a dedicated Research Institute which promotes an annual sex study with our members, we felt it important to translate conventional academic data into an easily digestible format for our members." says David S. Novak, Managing Director of the OLB Research Institute and Senior Health Strategist, at Online Buddies, Inc. (parent company of Manhunt™ and DList™). The website examines in detail a variety of sexual behavior topics from the larger study.

According to the OLB Research Institute, to date, Manhunt™ and DList™ members have participated in over 100 studies worldwide, with this year's national sex study being the largest in the United States. The study itself, which focused on men's most recent sexual event, found the sexual repertoires of participants to be varied, suggesting the need to rethink some common misconceptions about the sexual behaviors of gay and bisexual men.

"As highlighted in the [website], the sexual experiences that men are having are not all homogenous. For example, less than 40% of men engaged in anal intercourse during their last sexual event, challenging the notion that 'gay sex always = anal sex.' By providing this information to our members, we hope to normalize their sexual behaviors and ultimately reduce existing stereotypes about gay and bisexual men," says Novak.

So I'd encourage you to at least give the website a perusal: http://www.mensnationalsexstudy.com/ It's chock full of interesting tidbits about what your fellow gay/bisexual men do in (and out of) bed. For the more sciency-types, I'd suggest you to access the full report through your academic institution's subscription to the The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

Leave a comment

We want to know your opinion on this issue! While arguing about an opinion or idea is encouraged, personal attacks will not be tolerated. Please be respectful of others.

The editorial team will delete a comment that is off-topic, abusive, exceptionally incoherent, includes a slur or is soliciting and/or advertising. Repeated violations of the policy will result in revocation of your user account. Please keep in mind that this is our online home; ill-mannered house guests will be shown the door.